Cosco Ventura DX Review

Gets the job done. The Cosco Ventura DX has all necessary safety features and isn't uncomfortable for my child. The padding is somewhat lacking, but compared to the much more expensive boosters with the 5 point harness the price is a bargain. 

I love how the styling is so neutral - is perfect for a little boy or girl. Tan/black/grey make it gender neutral as well as neutral to a cars interior. The harness feature is more hidden than others where you wouldn't be able to find it if you were new to boosters unless you were familiar with them already. They should have colored it red to make it stand out like similar booster car seats.

A downfall to the Cosco Ventura is the tightening of the harness. My other little boy's booster allows for the pulling of the rope at the bottom to tighten the whole thing and a little silver lever that allows for loosening. You have to take the entire booster car seat out to be able to loosen or tighten (about once or twice a month for a fast growing child).

This seat can be bought at Walmart for around $50. A similar rival brand seems to be Safety 1st. If given the choice between them, I think that even the older Safety 1st seats are better made AND less expensive than its Cosco competitors.

The buckling itself seems to be very standard and doesn't seem to be a pinching hazard and the strength required to position the buckling isn't very hard for an average mom or dad.

The slant required to allow the child to lean back (and sleep!) comfortably doesn't completely exist in this car booster seat. The child can lean back, but while sleeping the head isn't supported enough to lean back which can result in a sore neck for those long car trips. ouch!

On some models of the Ventura, doesn't have the arm rests and those that do don't have a swinging feature where you can lift them out of the way. Maybe it's for the best since a small child might just bring them up and down constantly anyway. This, however, is not so good if an adult or larger child has to fit across the car seat and get caught by the arm rests sticking out.

The material that the car booster seat is made of is just a semi thin fabric that with no additional fabric padding underneath except for that that is under the head rest that only a larger child's head can reach.

For long and frequent car trips, this car seat is not reccomended based on the facts that the padding is just not thick enough for very long trips and that the child can't comfortably sleep with the headrest. Look for the car seats where the lean back is very noticable. If you can hardly tell that it will lean back, it will be one very similar to the Cosco Ventura DX.

For positioning the car seat in to the car itself isn't as difficult as some of its competitors. The seatbelt must be slid (when using as a car seat not a simple booster) between the fabric and the actual plastic frame of the booster and then additional fastening of safety straps on both sides of the cars original buckle may be placed with metal grips.

For short trips or grandparents, I'd recommend this booster car seat based on the facts of the price point being in the $50 range and the general ease of installation. It will, however require the installer to be in the car leaning over the car seat to position the belt through the seat.

From the booster only perspective, it seems pretty easy to install. Of course the booster only selection would be easier if that's all you are going to use it for. But I've also heard good things about using the 5 point harness for children as long as they can fit in them. A child large enough to use it for a booster, it seems like the head cushion would not be very comfortable and actually lean the childs head forward a bit instead of back (like a good head cushion should do!)

The general width of the booster seems like it will gather a child of small - overweight girth. Even my 25 pound one year old fits in it just fine, however.

If you have any questions about installing any car seat or booster, you can go to your local fire department where they have trained individuals there to help you install it correctly.

Of course, this car seat is for children of 20-100 pounds and is never suitable for a small baby. Around 1 year old is when a child might reach the 20 pound requirement for this front faciing car seat booster. 

If comparing this booster seat to other similar car seat boosters in its class, I'd first look at the Safety 1st brand. Otherwise, I'm not disappointed with this seat for my child.

Personally, this seat has only been used for short (under 30 minute car trips) and has not yet been on a long travel venture, but I hope that it will still meet my expectations for our next excursion of 6 hours!

Packaging wise, I was actually quite pleased to see that it was not fit into a box like similar car seats, but a clear and somewhat durable plastic cover that I intend to zip it back in for luggage plane travel.